A variety of systems have been proposed for use in promotional activities, such as giving awards, for the purpose of inducing patrons to purchase items or enter business establishments. Typically, promotional systems are designed to attract patrons to a business establishment by necessitating a patron's presence as a condition of eligibility for the award, the idea being that a prospective patron at the establishment has the opportunity to acquire the product or services being offered. The benefit to be obtained by the utilization of such promotional systems, therefore is to attract customers.
The basic operation of such promotions is to award selected prizes or benefits to prospective patrons entering the establishment. One problem with such systems is the method by which prospective patrons can determine their eligibility and obtain the appropriate prize or award. One technique that has been utilized is to issue printed coupons or other indicators identifying the benefit to be obtained. For example, printed coupons may be distributed with periodicals or the daily newspaper in which the prize or award is identified. One typical example is a free or discounted second item when a first product or service is purchased.
Significant lead time is usually required in the distribution of pre-printed coupons by mail or as inserts for publications such as magazines or newspapers. Once coupons are printed, the award or benefit is predetermined and fixed. There is little ability to change or modify a promotional program while those coupons are in circulation since there is little, if any, flexibility once the coupons are printed. Often such coupons have an expiration date in order to permit such changes.
It has been proposed therefore to utilize some type of universal or multi-purpose coupon which can be processed upon presentation at an establishment for the purpose of determining the award. Systems have been utilized in conjunction with lottery games in which a ticket can be purchased with the particular combination of numbers or other indications which then can be presented to a machine for the purpose of identifying the particular ticket and determining whether the numbers thereon are eligible to win a prize.
For example, two related patents, Seidman U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,007,641 and 5,080,364 disclose a system for processing information on a token to determine whether the holder of the token is eligible to win a prize. In the Seidman patents, a number or other legend is represented on a token or coupon in the form of a bar code arrangement. The bar code pattern on the coupon is scanned by a system located in the establishment and the number represented thereby is identified. The tokens disclosed in the Seidman patents may take different forms.
When the bar code on one of the tokens in the Seidman patents is scanned by the system, the number represented by the code is compared to one or more stored predetermined numbers to determine whether the number presented is a "winning" number. A "winning" number in a system such as disclosed in the Seidman patents is one which may or may not be eligible for a prize. A potential winning number, one identified as a "winning" number, is not always awarded a prize.
The awarding of prizes in the system disclosed in the Seidman patents is a two-step procedure. Initially, a random selection process selects some of the scanned tokens on which the winning code has been printed. The selection from scanned "winning" tokens determines whether a prize will be awarded. This occurs randomly at the time the token is scanned or presented to the system. If the token is not selected even though it has a "winning" number, no prize or award is made.
Once a token is randomly selected at the time the code thereon is scanned, any of a variety of prizes can be awarded to any of the selected winning numbers.
Thus, the system disclosed in the Seidman patents, processes scanned numbers in substantially identical fashion. The coupons are randomly selected at the time of presentation to receive an award, and the awards to the selected tickets are randomly assigned at the same time.
The system as disclosed in the Seidman patents is intended to prevent fraud. This is achieved by treating all "winning" tokens the same, as indicated above. The random processing of tokens, including the selection and assignment of prizes occurs at the time the tokens are scanned and is not predetermined prior to the presentation of the token. Thus, the random selection and assignment process is initiated in response to scanning the codes on the various tokens as they are presented.
In Jolliff, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,590, a prize award system is disclosed in association with products being purchased. The scanning of the UPC bar codes associated with the products purchased during check out commences the gaming operation. The resulting number that is generated is compared to a list of winning numbers.
Other approaches utilize pre-existing representations or codes associated with products to determine whether that code number which represents the product and is pre-assigned results in the award of a prize or other promotional indication. Such systems rely on the awareness of customers that there may be a promotion if they arrive at the store. They are not intended to distribute promotional items in an effort to induce potential customers into a facility.
It would be desirable to have a flexible system for implementing a method capable of operating with distributed coupons or other information containing input documents such as, for example, credit cards in order to attract potential patrons to a location for the purpose of inducing such potential customers to enter the place of business or for otherwise promoting products to improve business operations. Such a system and method should desirably have the ability to interact with a variety of information containing input documents, including those which have been previously distributed and at the same time have the flexibility to produce a variety of awards, prizes, inducements or promotions as a result of the presentation and processing of such promotional input documents.